2006 - Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Clos Sorbe Vieille Vigne, Fourrier

Fourrier's 2006 Morey-St.-Denis Clos Sorbe – of which there are but 50 cases – is sweetly scented with incense- and brown spice- tinged fresh strawberry and raspberry; offers a silken texture and expansive fruit on the palate; and finishes with refined, saliva-drawing length. This boasts rare buoyancy and clarity to nuances of spice and saline, crystalline minerality. Eyebrows as well as stakes in the Burgundy-buying game were raised when the prices of certain Fourrier 2006s came out well above those of 2005. Time will of course tell whether this new positioning "sticks," but there can be no overlooking either the consistently excellent results Jean-Marie Fourrier achieves, nor the extreme paucity and remarkable quality of his two most celebrated bottlings, particularly in this vintage. Jean-Claude Fourrier – with whom I tasted the majority of his son's 2006s – told me that contrary to usual practice here, the stems were removed from all of the fruit this year, because none were really ripe (i.e. truly lignified). (For more about Fourrier's always articulately and thoughtfully expressed methods, consult my report in issue 170.) Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990